Reservations soon required at all TS

[miblue]

What about Big River Grille at Boardwalk? We want to eat there but I noticed they don't take ADRs. Just checked again today.

 

[lovin'fl]

What about Big River Grille at Boardwalk? We want to eat there but I noticed they don't take ADRs. Just checked again today.

We did a walk in there a few years ago..was no problem. It was pretty good food and not a bad price.

 

[AndyFL]

Back when I first posted this information I took quite a bit of heat, enough so that it had me wondering if Brian and the other employees at B&C had their info right. Well, we went to Disney for a few days in May and sure enough....what I posted was spot-on. If you don't have a reservation at B&C you will not get a table or booth but you will be seated at the counter if room is available. When we walked up there was one booth and two tables empty. We were told there was nothing available except the counter. The booth and tables stayed empty the whole time we were there so I asked one of the servers if what I had been told about the new policy was indeed true and she said yes and a couple other CMs jumped in when they heard what we were talking about. They said about the only way you will be seated at a TS rest is if there is a certain (they weren't sure what the number was and said it could vary from place to place) percentage of tables that were truly unbooked and therefore empty. They also said the new policy had devastated their income because of the reduction in tips.......locals who used to be able to walk up and FL residents like ourselves tended to be the best and most reliable tippers.

Just for kicks I walked up to several TS restaurants, where I saw empty tables, and asked if anything was available. In every case I was told no.

No big deal to us, we simply are rediscovering off-site places to eat. We ate at Unos, Sante Fe, and Smokey Bones and in each case ended up spending about the same as we would at a CS place in Disney.

Seems we've come full circle, there was a time when many folks went off-site for things like meals. Disney opened more restaurants and even DTD to keep people ON-site. Now with their new policy they are pushing people off-site again. The more things change the more they stay the same I guess.

Anyway, figured it was worth updating this thread in case some of you have been baffled when told there's nothing available when your eyes clearly tell you otherwise.

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

Thank you for the update.
We are going in Aug & I actually only made ADR's for dinner - figuring that would be our 1 big meal a day & we would either grab a quick bkfst or lunch each day - whenever the spirit moved us. Guess I better re-think that idea. Hate to be tied down to all those reservations, tho. Especially with the $10 cancellation fee. (And we rarely, if ever do CS.)

 

[lovin'fl]

Back when I first posted this information I took quite a bit of heat, enough so that it had me wondering if Brian and the other employees at B&C had their info right. Well, we went to Disney for a few days in May and sure enough....what I posted was spot-on. If you don't have a reservation at B&C you will not get a table or booth but you will be seated at the counter if room is available. When we walked up there was one booth and two tables empty. We were told there was nothing available except the counter. The booth and tables stayed empty the whole time we were there so I asked one of the servers if what I had been told about the new policy was indeed true and she said yes and a couple other CMs jumped in when they heard what we were talking about. They said about the only way you will be seated at a TS rest is if there is a certain (they weren't sure what the number was and said it could vary from place to place) percentage of tables that were truly unbooked and therefore empty. They also said the new policy had devastated their income because of the reduction in tips.......locals who used to be able to walk up and FL residents like ourselves tended to be the best and most reliable tippers.

Just for kicks I walked up to several TS restaurants, where I saw empty tables, and asked if anything was available. In every case I was told no.

No big deal to us, we simply are rediscovering off-site places to eat. We ate at Unos, Sante Fe, and Smokey Bones and in each case ended up spending about the same as we would at a CS place in Disney.

Seems we've come full circle, there was a time when many folks went off-site for things like meals. Disney opened more restaurants and even DTD to keep people ON-site. Now with their new policy they are pushing people off-site again. The more things change the more they stay the same I guess.

Anyway, figured it was worth updating this thread in case some of you have been baffled when told there's nothing available when your eyes clearly tell you otherwise.

My inlaws are on a plane flying home from WDW right now. All week they did walk ins for meals (like gretchen above, they didn't want to be tied to ADRs and risk cancellation fees)...no problems. We walked in for Sanaa in December. I think the ADR only is just for B&C.

 

[saskdw]

Unfortunately, I have to say I still don't believe it. There is no chance an empty restaurant at WDW would refuse to seat me. Just like the poster above me is stating his inlaws were seated all week without ADR's.

I believe what you are saying about B & C making people sit at the counter, but I don't beleive an 3/4 empty TS at Epcot would be turning people away.

 

[Tbella]

waiting to hear other disers resent experiences with walk ups

 

[OasterP]

My inlaws are on a plane flying home from WDW right now. All week they did walk ins for meals (like gretchen above, they didn't want to be tied to ADRs and risk cancellation fees)...no problems. We walked in for Sanaa in December. I think the ADR only is just for B&C.

I have to agree with this, even though I haven't gone on my trip yet. I do have ADR's made, but my friend was down there with her family of five in May and the entire week did walk ins with no issue. Now granted they didn't go to Ohana or BOG for dinner, but definitely some others that I've made ADR's for.

 

[vinotinto]

bump! Want to know more about places that you can or cannot walk-in without an ADR.

 

[AngiTN]

bump! Want to know more about places that you can or cannot walk-in without an ADR.

Not sure there is a way to answer you as it's impossible to answer in advance.

Depends on a lot of things. Some are so booked they simply can not take a walk in. Disney is not like your local Chili's where they'll take your name and seat you in order of arrival. If they are full, they are full and they will turn you away. Many locations are full and will not be able to take a walk in. Some are never full and can always take walk ins. And as logic tells you, the places that are too full to take walk ins are typically the better, more popular places. The less popular ones don't book up so they can take some walk ins.

And you have to take in to consideration if there is free dining being offered at that time. When there is no free dining there are more openings than when there is free dining. When it's free, folks book a lot more ADR so there are a lot fewer places for walk ins.

 

[ibela]

I want to go to Kona for breakfast but haven't made any ADRs since I'm not sure which day we want to go. Anyone know if that takes walk-ups? I suppose when we wake up that morning, I can jump online to see if there is an ADR available.

 

[AngiTN]

I want to go to Kona for breakfast but haven't made any ADRs since I'm not sure which day we want to go. Anyone know if that takes walk-ups? I suppose when we wake up that morning, I can jump online to see if there is an ADR available.

That's the best idea. If there are no ADR when you wake up that day then I can't see how they would take a walk up. No ADR means the restaurant is booked to capacity that day. With the implementation of the $10 no show fee you have very few no shows now.

 

[gwynne]

Now just a cotton pickin' minute! If the restaurant looks kinda empty, can't you go away, perhaps 50 feet to some bushes or 100 feet to the next building outside, and call on your cell phone and make a reservation, say, half an hour from "now"?

Disney may well have a system in place taking into account average no-shows and planned overbookings, and openings for last minute reservations could pop up at random times.

I tried (May 2014) to get a reservation with the lobby concierge for less than 2 hours away on the same day. They said it can't be done. Not that there aren't reservations, that the system won't take "short notice" reservations.
We ended up walking in at Saana. After a short wait we were seated.

 

[AngiTN]

I tried (May 2014) to get a reservation with the lobby concierge for less than 2 hours away on the same day. They said it can't be done. Not that there aren't reservations, that the system won't take "short notice" reservations.
We ended up walking in at Saana. After a short wait we were seated.

Someone was either too lazy to do their job or clueless. You can indeed book them that short notice. There have even been signs out front at MK that tell you what locations have openings that day. Usually just The Plaza. You can always pull it up on your device and book yourself.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Back when I first posted this information I took quite a bit of heat, enough so that it had me wondering if Brian and the other employees at B&C had their info right. Well, we went to Disney for a few days in May and sure enough....what I posted was spot-on. If you don't have a reservation at B&C you will not get a table or booth but you will be seated at the counter if room is available.

Are we still saying it's ALL restaurants and not just Beaches & Cream? Which as previously noted is understandable because it's the smallest restaurant on property. But it is not ALL restaurants.
Since this came out I've walked into Via Napoli, Sanaa, Raglan Road, San Angel, Flying Fish and the Brown Derby. Plus Il Mulino and Bluezoo but they are not Disney restaurants.

 

[vinotinto]

I tried (May 2014) to get a reservation with the lobby concierge for less than 2 hours away on the same day. They said it can't be done. Not that there aren't reservations, that the system won't take "short notice" reservations.
We ended up walking in at Saana. After a short wait we were seated.

I've also been unable to get an ADR within the next 2 hours, so I think that is the way things are going.

You will not be able to look for an ADR at 8:00 am and find something before 10 am. Which is why the possible news that walk ups are less possible so troubling, especially with the cancellation fees.

I am getting tired of having to plan everything in the vacation in advance.

 

[maxiesmom]

I've also been unable to get an ADR within the next 2 hours, so I think that is the way things are going.

You will not be able to look for an ADR at 8:00 am and find something before 10 am. Which is why the possible news that walk ups are less possible so troubling, especially with the cancellation fees.

I am getting tired of having to plan everything in the vacation in advance.

I wonder if the 2 hour window is at least in part due to the fact that Disney suggests you budget 90 minutes to get to any ADR from somewhere else on property. That leaves only 30 minutes to book the ADR and get ready.

 

[Suzie13]

Can I ask was it April the first when the staff told you about this rumor?

 

[gawrsh2008]

Someone was either too lazy to do their job or clueless. You can indeed book them that short notice. There have even been signs out front at MK that tell you what locations have openings that day. Usually just The Plaza. You can always pull it up on your device and book yourself.

No one was lazy or clueless. Our system will not allow us to book a reservation inside of one hour from the time a guest calls.

 

[pharm55]

We got back 7/26 from 10 days at WDW and had ADRs for every day we were there. Dozens of people were doing walk in as well but where we had to wait at most 15 minutes for our table the walk ins were being told an hour (at 50s PTC) anyway. I was very impressed with how quickly they were able to turn over tables as for our group of 5 we were in and out usually within 60 minutes. Longer for CRT - 90? Even BOG was only an hour - we ate in the room with the wedding gift and thought it interesting that they only seated half the tables in that room while we were there. I had expected the place to be full with reservations being so hard to get. The other two rooms were full.
We ate at Sci Fi as well (slowest service we had but still ok) and when I told hostess we wanted a car NOT a picnic table she told me picnic tables were designated for walk ins only so we did end up with a car.
I was surprised when we ate at PTC that there were so many walk ins. I had only made the reservation the day before and had several choices for times.